Li-Xuan is Project Curator for EMKP and responsible for several aspects of the programme, including budgeting and files records, digital assets checking and ingesting, events support, and social media channels and dissemination. Coming from a background in the history of design and material culture, Li-Xuan’s main research interests lie in the study of fashion and textiles, especially as they intersect with race, colonialism, and presentations of the human body. Her regional specialisation spans in Southern China and Southeast Asia, with a special focus on the Malay Peninsula in the period of British colonisation.
Prior to joining the EMKP, Li-Xuan received her Master’s in the History of Design through a joint program between the V&A Museum and the Royal College of Art, where she focused on traditional weaving practices and the study of fashion objects from colonial Malaya. At the same time, she worked as an administrator and social media organiser for the Research Collective for Decolonising Fashion (RCDF), as well as a research assistant for the V&A Research Institute (VARI)’s Legacies of British Slave-Ownership project. She also runs a blog about Japanese street fashion and youth culture and is currently conducting research on kebaya and batik textiles of the Malay Peninsula.
Li-Xuan Teo